Ladakh clashes: China’s aggressive stance towards India fits larger pattern, says White House
Kayleigh McEnany said the US was all for peaceful resolution to the border standoff between India and China, adding that country was monitoring the situation.
United States President Donald Trump believes that the aggressive stance of Beijing towards India and other countries in the region is a testimony to the “true nature” of the Chinese Communist Party, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Wednesday. She said the US was all for peaceful resolution to the border standoff between India and China, adding that the country was closely monitoring the situation.
Diplomatic relations between India and China have plummeted after a violent clash on the Line of Actual Control last month. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed and 76 injured in the altercation on the intervening night of June 15-June 16. The Chinese side also suffered casualties but has not yet shared the details. The face-off between the two neighbouring countries was the worst instance of violence along the Line of Actual Control since 1975.
“With regard to India and China, we are closely monitoring the situation,” said McEnany during a press briefing. “The president is doing so as well. And he said that China’s aggressive stance along the India-China border fits the larger pattern of Chinese aggression and other parts of the world. These actions only confirmed the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party.”
The Ladakh violence sparked calls for boycott of Chinese goods and businesses across the country. On Monday, the Indian government blocked 59 apps with Chinese links, claiming that they were a threat to India’s sovereignty. On Wednesday, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the Centre will ban Chinese firms from highway projects.
On Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised India for blocking several apps linked to China. “We welcome India’s ban on certain mobile apps from China,” Pompeo told reporters. He said that this ban will “boost India’s integrity and national security”. Pompeo claimed that these apps serve as the “appendages” of the Chinese Communist Party’s “surveillance state”.
On Tuesday, the United States Federal Communications Commission, the country’s telecommunications regulator, declared Chinese telecom giants Huawei and ZTE Corporation as “national security threats”. All their parent firms as well as subsidiaries and associate firms were also designated this way.
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